Comelec guidelines vs red-tagging

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will issue guidelines against red-tagging during the campaign period for the 2025 national and local election.

“We will come up with the guidelines against red-tagging,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia told the DAILY TRIBUNE.

While he gave no further details yet about the content, Garcia said hopefully the poll body will finish drafting the guidelines by next week.

On Tuesday, the Makabayan Coalition welcomed the Comelec’s commitment to issue specific guidelines against red-tagging during the midterm polls.

The Makabayan Coalition called it a “historic first,” stressing that these guidelines protect candidates and parties from “political harassment and discrimination.”

Garcia made the commitment during a dialogue with members of the Makabayan Coalition, who raised concerns about the poll body’s guidelines on social media use.

“This is a significant victory for democratic rights and electoral reform. For the first time, we will have clear guidelines from Comelec against red-tagging, consistent with the Supreme Court's ruling in Deduro vs. Comelec,” Makabayan spokesperson Reyna Valmores Salinas said.

“This shows that our consistent push against political persecution is gaining ground," Salinas added.

Salinas stressed that this is a big win for progressive parties and candidates who have long been victims of red-tagging.

"The release of these guidelines will serve as protection for the rights of candidates and parties to compete fairly in the elections," she added.